HWCAM: From the studio to your living room

Friday

Apr 12, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 12, 2013 at 12:18 PM

Whether you’re watching live Board of Selectmen meetings on your television or streaming the recording of the Prism concert on your laptop, Hamilton-Wenham Community Access and Media Inc. (HWCAM) makes it all possible.

Jennie Oemig / joemig@wickedlocal.com

Whether you’re watching live Board of Selectmen meetings on your television or streaming the recording of the Prism concert on your laptop, Hamilton-Wenham Community Access and Media Inc. makes it all possible.

Three of the students who work for HWCAM were busy filming the HWRHS Morning Show on Friday, April 5.

"Zachary Grimshaw, James Rennicks and Hayden Croker are employees of HWCAM," said Bill Melville, executive director of HWCAM. "They’re paid to video meetings and events."

In addition to providing a service to the community, Melville said the students are learning real-world skills.

"We have about a half dozen students doing this," he said, explaining that they’re all scheduled accordingly so one person isn’t filming three meetings in one week. "And I step in if needed."

Melville said the program is solely supported by community members.

"A small fee from cable bills goes to support community access studios," he said. "No school funds go into this."

While community access networks have their own studios, Melville said others, like the one for Hamilton and Wenham, operate out of the schools.

The HWCAM studios are located at Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, 775 Bay Road in Hamilton.

"They provide the space and, in return, HWCAM provides TV classes," Melville said, adding that, there are usually between two and four classes offered per year, depending on enrollment.

The HWCAM Board of Directors oversee the operation of the studio, as well as create the budget and policy initiatives to run the community access network.

Melville said he assists the board in deciding the most effective way to use that money while maintaining the best possible relationship between all the parties involved.

When it comes to choosing which meetings and events to record, Melville said certain ones take precedence.

"According to our bylaws, we’re required to do specific meetings," he said, explaining that meetings of the two Boards of Selectmen and School Committee are three that are mandatory.

While the goal is to provide live coverage of meetings and events, Melville explained that some are recorded for later broadcast; all recordings are available on demand online.

"And we have residents who come in and do their own shows," he added. "We’ve done everything from painting shows to call-in shows and debates. We’ve also done a lot of Green initiative shows."

Melville said HWCAM is always looking for people to come in and do their own shows.

"All they have to do is call the studio and ask," he said.

Some of the most popular public access productions by HWCAM include the Patton Park concerts and Community House performances.

"We like to build relationships with the people who run those shows," Melville said. "It’s a good benefit to the community."

Advancements in the past few years have also helped increase the quality and quantity of HWCAM productions.

"A couple years ago, HWCAM put in fiber link to go live from the field," Melville said of providing live coverage of sporting events. "They also put in fiber link to all schools and all public buildings."

Melville said those upgrades resulted in clear video and data services.

HWCAM also has a portable studio-in-a-box that makes filming of Annual Town Meetings possible.

Community access channels for Hamilton and Wenham are on channel 8 and 22 for Comcast subscribers and channel 36 and 37 for Verizon customers.

For more information about HWCAM and its programming, visit HWCAM.org or call 978-468-1320.